The NROC Project

What The NROC Project does

The NROC Project is a California-incorporated 501(c)(3) nonprofit headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, founded in 2003 (previously operating as The Monterey Institute for Technology and Education). It develops adaptive learning technology for math and English, anchored by its flagship product EdReady — a platform that administers a low-stakes diagnostic assessment and generates individualized study paths directing students to multimedia learning resources, practice problems, and competency checks. The offering is supplemented by HippoCampus, a curated repository of over 7,000 multimedia learning objects spanning 13 academic subjects, plus NROC Courseware for open and low-cost curricula. Integration partners include Khan Academy, PhET (University of Colorado Boulder), and NOAA; the platform is WCAG 2.1 AA and SOC 2 Type II compliant to support institutional procurement requirements.

The organization serves educational institutions across K-12, higher education, adult education, corrections, and teacher preparation segments, with documented flagship deployments including EdReady Montana (~180,000 learners across ~600 institutions), Texas College Bridge (400+ districts, 90+ colleges), Ivy Tech Community College (45,000+ students across 45 campuses), and Maricopa Community College District. Go-to-market combines enterprise field sales of seat licenses (quote-based, disclosed at approximately $30 per student for EdReady) with custom partnership agreements for state-level initiatives such as Texas College Bridge and EdReady Montana, alongside a free public self-serve tier at edready.org and hippocampus.org that serves as a top-of-funnel acquisition channel.

NROC is grant-supported in addition to earned revenue; a five-year $3.5 million grant from the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation (with co-support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) sustains EdReady Montana's expansion. The organization is led by President and Chief Academic Officer Dr. Ahrash N. Bissell, with a customer success function staffed by former community college practitioners. Operating geographies span the United States and Canada with selective regional flagship programs; revenue is not publicly disclosed.

Name

The NROC Project

Legal name

The NROC Project

Website

https://nroc.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2003

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The NROC Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that develops EdReady, an adaptive learning platform providing low-stakes math and English diagnostics and personalized study paths to K-12, higher education, adult, and corrections institutions across the United States and Canada.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Adaptive Learning and College Readiness Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132), Educational Support Services (611710), All Other Schools and Instruction (61169)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Adaptive Learning & Personalized Instruction Software (EDAJAMAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Interactive Multimedia Learning Content (Video, Audio, Interactive Lessons) (EDAFACAG), Interactive Practice & Skill-Building (Drills, Games, Mastery Practice) (EDAFACAC), Writing, Grammar, Spelling & Composition Tools (EDAFAOAE)

Keywords

• Adaptive learning platform
• College readiness assessment
• Personalized study paths
• Open educational resources
• Developmental education remediation

Headquarters

HQ city

Carmel

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Institutional Seat Licenses: NROC supports its activities through fees paid by sustaining institutions. Most institutional partners purchase blocks of seat-licenses to specific solutions powered by the EdReady platform. This is the primary revenue stream supporting the nonprofit's activities.
2. Custom NROC Partnerships: In special cases, some institutional partners receive access to materials and applications hosted or developed by NROC under different partnership terms, with negotiated terms that may include customization and co-branding.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The NROC Project develops and sells EdReady, an adaptive learning platform that uses diagnostic assessment to build personalized math and English study paths for students. The organization also operates HippoCampus, a curated repository of over 7,000 multimedia learning objects, and NROC Courseware for open and low-cost educational content. Institutions purchase seat licenses to EdReady-powered solutions, while individual learners can access public free versions of EdReady and HippoCampus.

Product overview

The NROC Project offers EdReady as its core adaptive learning platform, complemented by HippoCampus for multimedia content and NROC Courseware for subject-specific curricula. EdReady personalizes math and English instruction through initial diagnostic assessment and individualized study paths. Regional implementations like EdReady Montana and Texas College Bridge demonstrate how the platform is customized for specific state and institutional use cases. The ecosystem enables institutions to address student knowledge gaps and improve college readiness outcomes.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• EdReady: Adaptive math and English learning platform that personalizes a student's path to subject mastery and provides low-stakes college readiness assessment
• HippoCampus
• NROC Courses

Products and services

• EdReady An adaptive math and English learning platform that personalizes each student's path to subject mastery through diagnostic assessment, individualized study paths, and multimedia learning resources, targeted at secondary, postsecondary, and adult education institutions.
• HippoCampus A curated repository of over 7,000 multimedia learning objects spanning 13 academic subject areas, including content from NROC, Khan Academy, PhET, NOAA, and other providers, available to institutions as a member-branded content platform.
• NROC Courseware Open and low-cost courses developed by NROC for secondary, postsecondary, and adult education settings, available as part of the organization's open educational resources offerings.

Quantifiable outcome

• Ivy Tech Community College: After 4 months of EdReady use, approximately 50% of students placed into credit-bearing courses (45,000+ students served)
• +6 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability4 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.

• EdReady Montana / Montana Digital AcademyflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2021EdReady Montana, operated by Montana Digital Academy on the University of Montana campus, is a flagship statewide initiative that evolved from a 63-student pilot to serving nearly 180,000 Montanans across approximately 600 institutions. The partnership received a $3.5 million five-year grant from the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation to sustain and expand programming.
• Khan AcademycoreTechnology or IntegrationEdReady integrates content from Khan Academy alongside NROC's own resources and other OER collections, allowing institutions to customize the learning experience with additional open educational resources.
• PhET Interactive SimulationscoreTechnology or IntegrationEdReady integrates PhET interactive simulations (from University of Colorado Boulder) as part of its multimedia learning content options available to institutions.
• UPchievecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNROC partnered with UPchieve, an organization democratizing student access to academic support, to expand reach and impact of college readiness resources.
• Texas College BridgeflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerTexas College Bridge is a statewide partnership across 400+ high school districts and 90+ colleges/universities, using EdReady to prepare high school students for college-level math and English coursework without high-stakes placement exams. Students earn TSIA exemptions upon completion.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Khan Academy: Khan Academy provides free adaptive practice and content in math, English, and other subjects and is integrated into EdReady's OER layer. It overlaps directly with NROC's adaptive math/English mission and competes for institutional adoption of personalized learning tools, though Khan's primary mode is free OER while NROC monetizes the adaptive placement and study-path wrapper.

Direct peers

• Curriculum Associates (iReady): iReady is a widely adopted adaptive diagnostic and instruction platform for K-12 math and reading, used by many of the same districts and state education agencies that buy EdReady. It is the most direct competitor in adaptive K-12 readiness assessment, with significantly larger scale and a comparable per-seat institutional sales motion.
• DreamBox Learning: DreamBox provides adaptive K-8 math instruction, sold via institutional seat licenses to districts and schools. It directly competes with EdReady's adaptive math readiness use case and is commonly evaluated alongside EdReady in district math readiness procurements.
• ALEKS (McGraw Hill): ALEKS is an adaptive assessment and learning platform used widely for college placement, developmental education, and math/English remediation—the same core use cases NROC targets at postsecondary institutions. It is one of EdReady's primary competitors in the community college placement and remediation market.
• IXL Learning: IXL offers adaptive math and English language arts practice and diagnostic tools for K-12, sold via school and district subscriptions. It directly overlaps with EdReady's adaptive learning, diagnostic assessment, and progress reporting functionality, with a much larger marketing and sales footprint.
• Carnegie Learning: Carnegie Learning provides adaptive math instruction (MATHia) and tutoring solutions to K-12 and higher education markets. It competes with EdReady in adaptive math readiness and is often part of the same procurement conversations around college and career readiness.
• Imagine Learning: Imagine Learning serves K-12 districts with supplemental adaptive literacy, math, and assessment products. It overlaps with EdReady in adaptive K-12 instruction and institutional sales to districts, and competes for similar equity and college readiness budget lines.

Broad incumbents

• Wiley (formerly Knewton): Wiley acquired Knewton, a pioneer in adaptive learning technology, and distributes adaptive capabilities across its higher education publishing portfolio. It competes with EdReady in postsecondary adaptive learning, though as part of a much larger content and services portfolio rather than a standalone adaptive platform.
• Pearson Education: Pearson is a major education publisher and assessment provider with adaptive products and placement testing used in higher education. It competes with EdReady in college readiness and developmental education through MyLab, Revel, and Pearson Test Prep offerings, though at a much larger scale and broader scope.
• McGraw Hill: McGraw Hill offers adaptive learning and assessment products (including ALEKS) across K-12 and higher education, overlapping with EdReady's math and English readiness use cases. It is a broad incumbent that competes in many of the same institutional buying cycles, particularly for community college placement and developmental education.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/thenrocproject

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The NROC Project